Systems similar to the present invention, known as display systems, construction systems, exhibition systems, or shop systems, provide an efficient manner of constructing temporary exhibits, showcases, booths, graphical displays, demonstration spaces, decks, and rooms that are quickly and easily assembled and disassembled. Such systems are commonly used for trade shows, symposiums, conventions, corporate centers, and museum exhibits.
It is known to use an arrangement of individual frame members as vertical posts and horizontal beams that connect together in order to create a skeletal framework. Such frameworks are often assembled for their own aesthetic qualities, which are often enhanced with various colors, coverings, lighting, and accessories. Additionally, such frameworks are often assembled to provide the support structure for temporary walls, decks, ceilings, and graphic surfaces and screens.
These systems often utilize beams having attachment elements protruding from their ends. These attachment elements typically correspond to a mating channel or hole in the vertical post. Thus, when one desires to connect a beam to a vertical post, one typically either laterally inserts the attachment member into the hole or inserts the attachment member into the channel at the top of the post and slides the beam down.
However, one disadvantage of these systems is that, because the beam has the added length of the attachment member, a horizontal beam that has not yet been connected to a pair of vertical posts already connected by a different horizontal beam is longer than the space between the two vertical posts. Accordingly, if a framework is already assembled, one desiring to add an additional beam must first disassemble the framework before the beam can be added. This disadvantage is exacerbated by the fact that the business of assembling such display systems is labor intensive, and the price of such labor is often high. Therefore, time wasted disassembling and reassembling proves to be very costly.
Another disadvantage of these systems is that the attachment members tend to be small, have little or no support once connected to the vertical post, and have minimal surface contact with the post, and thus, these frameworks are not capable of bearing great weight.